Returning
by katiealice49
Summary: Frank returns but is everything the same as it was?


**Name: Returning**

**Summary: Frank returns but is everything the same as he left it?**

**Disclaimer: Anything/anyone you recognise from "Water Rats" unfortunately do not belong to me. They belong to Hal McElroy & co.**

Detective Senior Constable Rachel Goldstein gazed out of her office window at the mesmerising view of Sydney Harbour. Seconds previously, she had finally admitted it to herself, she loved him.

"Bloody Frank!" she thought, "He had to go, didn't he?"

Rachel looked up as she heard a knock on the door. She smiled as the familiar face of Senior Sergeant Helen Blakemore walked into the room.

"Goldie, Jonathon's downstairs, I said you were busy but he said it was important, you'll be alright if he comes up?" Helen was talking about Rachel's ex-husband, Jonathon Goldstein, who she shared a son with, David.

"Yeah, sure Helen, it won't take long."

And with that Helen nodded and walked out of the room. Her faint footsteps were soon replaced with Jonathon's, which were coming rapidly closer to Rachel's office.

"Rachel I cannot forgive you for this." Jonathon's voice was large and angry as he stared down at Rachel who was sitting at her desk looking slightly bewildered.

"Oh please Jonathon, what have I done this time?" Rachel replied as she stood up to directly face him. Being a detective she knew all about body language and especially how Jonathon liked to use mind games to get his way.

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs in the reception area Helen was sorting through a pile of Frank's paperwork. Detective Senior Constable Frank Holloway was not only one of Helen's colleagues but also an intimate friend of hers and Helen missed his cheery face more than she thought she would.

"Bloody Frank!" she sighed as a tanned man with short brown hair and a strange Hawaiian shirt came bursting through the door.

"What?!" exclaimed the man, grinning, "I've been away for 3 months and I've still done managed to do something wrong!"

Helen Blakemore could have suffered a heart attack at that very moment for all she knew; she immediately stopped what she doing and ever so slowly lifted her head to look at the man who was now walking towards her with his arms out. Grinning, Helen ran up to the man and embraced him.

"Frank," started Helen "Glad to see you back in one piece!"

"Yeah thanks Helen, I just couldn't keep away. Ah, and the sheilas out in the big wide world aren't nearly as gorgeous as the ones back home." Frank smirked, thinking of one particular woman who could light up his entire world.

"Oh, is Goldie in?" he innocently asked. Helen was expecting that question from the moment she knew it was him.

She nodded but before he could run upstairs, she grabbed hold of his arm and said, "But she's talking to Jonathon right now so, a bit of privacy eh? In the meanwhile, you can sort through your leftover paperwork I was just looking at," and content with the grunt she got from Frank in reply, Helen got back to work.

* * *

"Jonathon, don't you dare play these mind games with David!" Rachel shrieked as she chased after Jonathon down the stairwell and into the reception area.

A laugh was all she got in reply as he strode out of the doors of the Sydney Water Police Head Quarters. But Rachel wasn't about to give up that easily. Throwing a glance at Helen and some man in a strange Hawaiian shirt, she followed Jonathon out onto the wharf.

* * *

Noticing Rachel had followed him out; Jonathon turned sharply and took hold of her blazer as he pulled her to him.

"I'll kill you if I have to Rachel," he hissed.

"Don't forget who you're talking to Jonathon," Rachel replied, pulling away from him.

At this comment Jonathon laughed at Rachel, "Ah yes, the detective, I should of known, your job has always come first."

"Never before David," Rachel replied, stepping towards him, "and I won't let you take him off me."

"You're an unfit parent Rachel, and I will get custody of David, you know that," Jonathon stated. "And besides, I'll enjoy winning more when it's you losing. I'll make David think that too."

"I'd rather die than see David turn out like you," Rachel hissed back at him.

Rachel's mind started to will her to bellow all the insults she had been creating for the last ten minutes straight into Jonathon's face, but something stopped her. Suddenly Rachel could think no more as a surge of pain rushed through her body. "Oomph" she groaned as she hit the floor. Jonathon had done what he had been doing quite often lately.

He had hit her.

This time Jonathon was so angry he kept on hitting and kicking her even when she lay on the floor still. He kept on kicking her even when Helen and Frank, who had been watching the commotion, came rushing out. Helen immediately dragged Jonathon away from Rachel and began reading his rights. Rights he shouldn't have according to her, but nevertheless, she had to state them. In the meantime Frank had dropped to Rachel's side as she began to gain consciousness.

Feeling someone around her, Rachel began to panic, "Jonathon get off me, please, get off!" she begged.

"Rach..." Frank replied softly.

Rachel tried to register whose voice it was, she was certain it wasn't Jonathon's. Rachel's mind was searching for answers: no it wasn't, no it couldn't be, he was out sailing the world's oceans, it wasn't possible, it couldn't be...

"Frank?" Rachel had finally looked up to see that it was most definitely Frank.

"Heya gorgeous," he smiled as he held her frail body close to his.

Seeing Jonathon was being arrested, Rachel began to panic once more, "No, no Frank, he can't go to prison, then David won't have a father, that's why I haven't reported him previously and-" Rachel was going to continue but Frank suddenly interrupted.

"Previously? You mean this has happened before Rachel?" he asked, aghast, turning her round to look directly in her eyes.

His penetrating eyes melted her as always, "yes" she replied weakly.

* * *

Having first talked to Helen, Jeff and Frank, then medically examined, then questioned by the officers in charge, Rachel's next task was to be photographed as they needed images of her injuries to use as evidence. This was the process Rachel knew so much about, and now was going through the same process seeing as Frank had finally persuaded her to press charges against Jonathon.

Walking through the doors of the photographer's room, Rachel knew she had to be strong. And three little words were all she needed to easily put a smile back on her face, "Frank is back".

Being instructed to, she started to remove her clothing one by one, revealing plenty of scars and bruising that would otherwise be hidden. Small tears began to well in Rachel's eyes and slowly fall down her pale face as the flashes of the camera illuminated her gleaming body.

* * *

Sitting at his own desk, Frank stared at Rachel's, wondering how much pain she had been through since he had left. Too much was his final conclusion.

"So, welcome back Frank," Rachel's voice awoke Frank from his thoughts to see Rachel standing in the doorway of their office smiling a genuine smile at him.

Standing up and walking towards Rachel, his Goldie, he asked the question he most definitely knew the answer to, and one that Rachel would most definitely lie to him in reply, "are you okay Goldie?"

"Yes, I'm fine-" Rachel's gentle answer was once again cut short as Frank's fingers traced the outline of her jaw. Looking up, she saw how soft his expression had become. Rachel's heart fluttered and she longed for the moment to never end.

Stepping closer to her, Frank leaned in and kissed Rachel tenderly on the lips. When they parted Rachel grinned larger than she had for three months and six days, since Frank had left her.

"-Now that you're back" she finished her sentence.

Finis.

**Author's Notes: This is my first fanfic so be nice and leave me some feedback please? Suggestions and challenges for other fics would be cool too.**


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